Tournament Director Eddie Gonzalez congratulates Korey Lovett.
© Bill Kallenberg/BB&T Atlanta Open
By Eric Jackson/BB&T Atlanta Open
Georgia Tech’s Nathan Rakitt will headline the four wild cards to pay front and center on Stadium Court Saturday in the first day of qualifying in the BB&T Atlanta Open.
Rakitt, of Marietta, Ga., was selected this year to the All-ACC second team and is competing for the second time in this tournament. The rising junior is scheduled to face fellow American Michael Shavaz at 10 a.m. Matches were originally scheduled to start at 9 a.m.
Wild Card Challenge winner Korey Lovett and Argentinean Facundo Mena will play each other following Rakitt’s match. Lovett is an incoming freshman at Alabama, who lives in Brevard, N.C.
16-year old Francis Tiafoe will play his first qualifying wild card match following Lovett’s match. The young prodigy, ranked as the No. 2 American junior, will play 31-year-old Benjamin Balleret.
Alabama’s Becker O’Shaughnessey is the final qualifiying wild card to play Saturday and will go head to head with Mexico’s Santiago Gonzalez. O’Shaughnessey, a Macon, Ga. native, led the Crimson Tide in singles wins (22) this season.
Four other matches are scheduled. Former Georgia Tech player Juan-Carlos Spir will play American Andrew Carter.
Daily schedule (Order of Play)